ANSA news

Austrian FM wants Mediterranean migrant route 'closed'

Mon, 21/08/2017 - 10:38

(ANSAmed) - BERLIN - Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz
has called in an interview with Welt am Sonntag for the closing
of the Mediterranean route used by migrants to reach Europe from
North Africa.
He also praised the Code of Conduct brought in by the Italian
government for NGOs involved in migrant search and rescue
operations in the area.
''The mass of people crossing the Mediterranean to arrive in
Italy is made up of economic migrants who do not have the right
to asylum as part of the Geneva Conventions. We must stop them
at the (EU's, Ed.) external borders,'' he said, and ''take them
back to their countries of origin or transit.''
''Rescues in the Mediterranean,'' he said, ''must not be seen
as a ticket to Central Europe.'' (ANSAmed).

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